Have you ever upgraded a software application, and afterwards felt like you never saw the software before? Supposedly, the user interface was revamped to “make it more intuitive.” What if you’re not intuitive? Fortunately, this doesn’t seem to be the problem that it used to be, and maybe part of the reason is that today’s programming tools let developers incrementally update functionality without reinventing the wheel. At least industrial application software developers realize that no one wants to go back and relearn everything. After all, we are creatures of habit.
I asked the experts how their companies keep the learning curve low so users don’t have to relearn everything after a major version upgrade, for example, from Version 3.0 to 4.0. I also asked how they decide what controls no longer need to be “front and center.” For those applications that use speed keys to access certain functionality, to have them changed or removed altogether can be a frustrating experience, so I asked how they handle this type of situation? Imagine my chagrin when an application I used for several years removed the Ctrl-M speed key to access a context-sensitive dialog box to modify an object’s properties, and changed it to being only available by highlighting with a mouse and right clicking the mouse to access the same box. This is progress?